How These Former Merrill Lynch Bankers Got Some Big Investors For Their Startup

One of the best times to launch a startup is when you've got a
cash flow coming in.

That's exactly what Allen "A.J." Steigman and Shane Robinson did,
when they left their investment banking jobs at Merrill Lynch to start sneakerhead and
streetwear platform Soletron,
a social networking and e-commerce marketplace where designers,
retailers and collectors can buy, sell and discuss with one
another.

The company launched recently with more than 1,000 products from
brands like Nooka, Kanvas Kings, entree, Bobby Fresh, Strip
Brand, JLAB, Counter Balance and Storm of London. They're
currently at the top 99.7% of all sites worldwide on Alexa, which
translates to around nine million impressions per month.

Steigman compares their business model to Amazon, eBay and Etsy since the company doesn't hold any of its
inventory, but keeps a percentage with every transaction.

But what makes Soletron different than Amazon is that it combines
e-commerce with social networking. Users are able to receive live
updates from brands and product releases in real time. They're
able to see the buying patterns of their friends and community
members. It also provides a platform for lenders to reach out to
vendors.

"Time and time again, people are saying they've never seen
anything like this before," Steigman told us. "There's a huge
demand internationally for this, especially in Japan, China and
Europe."

The idea came to him in 2010 when he was an owner of a sneaker
store at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. A year
before, he had left the energy and power group at Merrill Lynch
because he's "always wanted to become an entrepreneur." What
Steigman discovered was that when talented artists came to his
store with hopes of displaying their products, he wasn't able to
provide the space to house all of their designs.

"Basically, there is a bottleneck in the entire industry for
artistic expression by the limitations of a store's
square footage," he said.

So he sold his company and focused his energy on a "Sneakerhead
Destination" for aspiring artists. Robinson soon came into the
picture and Soletron was born.

"It's a huge industry, the growth is phenomenal. It's almost a
demographic demand and that's why I decided to get into it,"
Steigman said. "It's a massive platform and we can sell the
vendors who we think will be hot in an international market. We
want to protect the small brands and give a voice to the
artists."

But to get the vision to become a reality was going to be a long
road. After many months of fundraising, the co-founders found
themselves with more than $265,000 from investors such as the NY
Angels, prominent bankers, and John Friedman, founder of Easton
Capital.

"My partner and I were sleeping on couches in six different
cities when we were raising capital," Steigman said.

Then came the board members which includes Bruce Chizen, former
CEO of Adobe; Santonio Holmes, football player
for the New York Jets and Superbowl MVP; Tom Austin,
co-founder of AND1 basketball; John Friedman; and Bob Rice,
founder of Tangent Capital and NY Angel member.

To conserve their limited funds, Soletron reached out to several
universities — including Morehouse, Emory and New York University — to create summer
internship programs which led to the creation of Soletron's
iPhone
app, the first ever sneakershop database which locates more
than 3,500 stores in the nation simply by plugging in a zip code.
Steigman rented an apartment for his interns as they wrote codes
into the night.

When vendors learned about the operation, they came "knocking
down [Soletron's] doors" and the company currently endorses more
than 50 vendors. Next came the models: "At first, we wre trying
to get exclusive interviews with models and athletes to help us,
but now we have people reaching out to us."

An international chess champion ranked 1% among all professional
players in the nation, Steigman is finally living out his
entrepreneurial dreams.

"Coming from Corporate America, it's really rewarding in to be in
something like this. It's important to have a lot of fun as a
entrepreneur."